Launching mechanism for aeroplanes



Patented May 9, 1922..

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

o (NVE/vrai? Mm f1. 5pm/zx E. vA. SPERHY.

` APPLICATION FILED AUGS. 1918.

'YLAUNCHING IECHANlSN FOR AEROPLANES.

E. A. SPERRY. LAUNCHING MECHANISM FO-R AEROPLANES. APPLLcmoN .FILED AucwA 191s.

1,4 1,5,84:7 l Patented May 9, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

" i rfi 65; @Arm/fr E. A. SPERRY.

LAUNCHING MECHANISM FOR AEROPLANQ.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.a.191s.

Patented May 9, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR By [LMLfR/C/ EPERRK Aeroplanes, of which the following is a specification PATENT OFFICE..

mm A. SPEBCRJY, F BROOKLYIL NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

LAUNCHING MECHANISM FUR AEROPLAN'ES.

Patented May 9, 1922.

application ma iugm s, 191s. serial .110. 245,834.

To all 'whom 'it-'may concern: l i B it known that I, ELMER A; Smear, a

` citizen of the United Statesof America, re-

siding at 1505 Albemarle Road, Brooklyn, in the -county of Kings and .State of New York, have inventedcerta-in new and useful `Improvements in Launching Mechanism for This invention relates to mechanisms for launching aeroplanes or more particularly aerial torpedoes which are launched and flown without a pilot.

In order that this type of launching mechanism may be successful it is necessary that it .should `be light in weight, easily translported, set up or dismantled, sothat it may moved from place .to place dependent upon the location of the opposing forces.

,Referring to the drawings in which what are nowA considered the preferred forms of the invention shown: f Fig. 1 isa plan view of the launchingr trackand mechanism with an aeroplane mountedv thereon. Fig'. 21is` a front view of the car used to support the aeroplane,.showing a portion of the aeroplane secured thereto.

Fi 3 is a longitudinalseetion of the car and rake.

Fig. 4 is a detail of a portion of the propelli'ng mechanism. y j

Fig. 5 is avsectlonal view of the fly wheel which i's.used as an energy storing device and of the' drumupon which the cable is wound.

Fig. 5 is a section on line '5-5 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 6`is a side elevation of the' car as mounted on the# track.

7 is aisideelevation of a car track and power supplying mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a detail plan of the cable brake.

Fig. 9 is a'fragmentary'detail side elevation showing Va portion of the structure illus- .trated'jin Fig. 5, the arrow showin the direction of rotation tofwind the ca le on the drum.

Fig. 10 is an inverted fragmentary plan view of a portion ofthe structure illustrated in Figs.' 5 and 9,- l The aeroplane proper vided 4with skids 2' and.3, which in launching'v rest upon angle-bars 4 and. 5 of the car 6. The. aeroplane "may be firmly clamped 'upon the car by. means of a hookpr lloop 7 which ispreferably provlded with 1A isshown as prof struction, and is shown as made up of angle bars 11 and 12 connected by lattice work 13. The track is preferably formed of Z bars 14 bolted or otherwise secured to cross ties 15. The Wheels 16 are provided with flanges 1n the usual manner. In addition to the sald wheels I prefer to provide auxiliary rollers or wheels 17 which may be journaled upon arms 18 secured by axles 19 to any convenient portion of the car. Said rollers are adapted to engage the underneath surface of the tread 14 of the rail ,as shown and thereby prevent the car from bein lifted from the track' by the aeroplane and` also prevent its tilting backwardly when the car is suddenly started by the mechanism hereinafter described. The mechanism is so designed that the car is accelerated up to a predetermined point onthe track approximately 'three-fifths to two-thirds of the length of the track at which point the aeroplane is released and the brake applied to the car. To effect this purpose a trip 20 is placed on the track at a predetermined position. Said trip engages a projection'on the car such-as bell crank leverl21 and rotates the same in a counterclockwise direction. Said lever is connected by link 22 to the aforementioned trip 10 and serves to depress the same upon its rotation against the action of the spring 23. Also connected to said trip pr to the bell crank lever by means of a flexible connection 221 is a pin 25 which engages a weighted lever 26. Said lever is resilientlypressed to the right by a spring 27 so that when thepinis pulled upwardly by the connection 221 the lever rotates clockwise..

Adjacent one or b oth of the rails of the l .as supported by a spring 30 and is also connected to tlie car by links 'Bland-32. The

lower brake shoe is linked to the upper brake shoe and to the oar by links 33 and 34. .The lower brake shoe also is'connected tothe aforementioned lever 26 by a link 35. It will be readily seen that by this or other equivalent arrangements fa snubblng post action is secured since with the car moving in the direction of the arrow as soonas the pin 25 i5 jerkedA out, lever 26. will be drawn to.

' thexright by spring 27 thereby causing the `mum tension and preventing oscillation of l brake shoe 29 to engage the rail, and the the drum with respect to the clutch member.

brake shoe into engagement withl friction thereof with the rail will draw it The-source of power is represented as an rearwardly Vthereby drawing the upper vinternal combustion engine 50 which is the top Shown as directly connected to a shaft 51 of the rail. The greater the frictionl of the provided with a gear wheel 52. Said gear brake shoes the tighter will the shoes grip meshes with the smaller pinion 53 loosely the tread ot the rail therebetween. In orjournaled upon the shaft 42. Said pinion der to prevent too severe braking of the car 53 is shown as directly connected to arms The mass of the weight 36 is so aidjusted'nnd hence to the fly with respect to the tension of the spring 27 becomes the car and track is avoided and 25 the brake.

- scribed, and may be provided friction or clutch faee`44.

' Said clutch member "is shown as connected 72 pivoted at 73 may I preferablyprovide means 'responsive to 55 which carry pinions 56. Said pinions 56 the rate of deceleration of thecar for leSsengage both an internal gear 57 upon a fricening the braking action. For this purpose tion member 58, and a gear 59 keyedV or I have shown the lever 26 as weighted 'at its yOtherwise secured to the shaft 42. upper end36. It will be readily seen that f It will be readily seen that if the member as the car is retarded the momentum of the 58 which isA loosely journaled upon the shaft weighted end 36 will tend to move it for- 42 1s allowed to rotate freely,` little or no ward against Athe action of they spring 27. movement will be imparted to the gear 59 wheel 43 by the notation of the engine. The engine may thus that the weight will lessen the braking efbe brought up to speed running without feet whenever the vdeceleration of the car load. As Soon as this 1s accomplished the eater than the predetermined member 58 may be retarded by any suitable y Sueh means Serieus damage t0 means such as a; brake shoe 60 pivoted at 61 at the same and actuated by hand lever 62 lwlhich is time the car is brough-t to a standstill in the linked at 63 the outer end of the brake shortest time posm'ble after applicatie-nef ShOe- By.th1s means the member 58 may x be gradually broughtto nest and hence the Thefcar is shown asv connected t0 the fly wheel may be brought up to speed withsource of power by cable 38 which 'is coupled Out Stalling the engine. It is obvious that in any convenient manner to tllie front of any other suitable connecting means may be the car such as by means of ahoo 3S. Said employed between the en glne and fly Wheel cable is shown as passing through a pulley within the scope'of the invent1on. block 39 at the outer end of the track and Af' the fly- Wheel 1S brought P t0 a amount.

back again under the car to the reel or drum 40 around which the cable is coiled. Preferably'the said reel is of conical or conoidal shape, for the purpose hereinafter dehigh speed the aeroplane may then be launched by` moving the drum to the left so as to engage the clutch faces. This may be accom lished by hand or otherwise if with guidedesiredooves 41 for the cable, The drum'yig shown which is pivoted at 65`to the frame s own as journaled at or near its center of 66. The handle is provided with a forked gravity upon the shaft 42 by means- Oif a, portion 67 having thepins 68 which engage riction bearing 43. Said cone is slidably in a circular groove 69 1n the drum 40. 'lhe mounted upon the shaft S0 that it may-move clutch when thrown 1s held in engagement toward or away from the heavy vflywheel by a toggle 70 operable between the handle 43 which is employed as am energy Storing 64 and an upstanding arm. 71 on the frame. device.v Said ily wheel is rovided with a Automatic means are preferably provided clutch member for throwing out the clutch when the car 45 connected t0 the drum is adapted to enhas reached 'a predetermined position on gage the said friction faee uponthe mevethe track, or in other words, has reached ment of the d'rum tow-ard. the lywheel. the desired speed. For this purpose a trip be provided which t0 the drum by means of a stiff spring 46, lies in the path of the cable as it nears the 'so that as the drum is moved to the left, the @11d Of the dl'llm- The Cable in unwinding clutehvface will be resiliently and trorl ly will obviously move the trip 72 to the left pressed in to engagemel with the friction thereby pulling' downwardly on vthe flexible surface of the fly wh'ee At the Sametime COnnection p74 and breaking the toggle,

*or this purpose a handle 64 is 'I 'the` drum will not be started up with a pr0 whereupon the clutch will be disengaged by -i nounced shock since the first shock will 'be the action-of the spring 7.5. absorbed Vthe spring 46. 1 ypreferably alsoprovide between ,the clutch member and designed as to imparta uniform maximum the ,drum a ratchet-land pawl' connection, acce eration to] th'e` car. If it were possihle ratchet teeth 47 being shown as mounted on to maintain4 the iiy wheel u to speed during the clutch member, whilethe pawls 48 areon the carsacceleration, the rum would obvithe drum member. Thisis for-the purpose ously be a cone up to the point wherethe The surface of the drum is preferably so V 6e of maintaining `the spring 46` at its i'naz.- fer'oplanewas released for uniform accele'a- 13o' tion. This, however, is obviously. unnecessary since it would require an engine of much larger power. I prefer therefore to make use ofthe energy stored up in the rapidly operating ily wheel for performing the major portion of the Work necessary to accelerate the car. Then surface of the drum is therefore of a concave, conoidal character.

y I 'find itz-important that the vcar Abe held firmly in place on the track prior to launching so that the cable may be held taut and 'so that the car` will not be carriedjforward by the aeroplane propeller in case the aerop ane engine is spun up before launching. For this purpose a ivoted catch 90 is shown bolted to the trac at 91. Said catch engages a coupling 92 on the car, and is normally held in engagement therewith by a spring 93. Preferablythe hook is conf nected in some manner to the -means for throwing inthe clutch so that the car is released ,simultaneously with the aforesaid operation, a flexible connection' 94 being illustrated ascoupled to theV hook and wire 74 through trip 72 (iFigs. 5 and 6), thereby connecting the clutch 'handle 64 and the catch 90.

In addition to the car brake I may provide a-.separate brake for the dfurn and cable. In casesuch brake is provided, the cable may or may not be release from the car when the aeroplane is released. The

cable brake -isshown as a pair of blocks 80 and 81 (Figs. 1 and 8)" one of which, 80, is secured to the track -while the other is linked yto the first mentioned block by links 82 and 83. Link 88 is normally held in the position shown in Fig. 8- by catch 85 having a notch 86 engaging the end of said link. A spring 87 connected thereto exerts a force tendingto draw-the link to the right of Fig. 8. A trip 88 pivoted to the track at 89 in the'path of the flange of the car wheel is coupled tothe catch 85 by link 90, so that as the car passes .over the track the catch 85 will be withdrawn `and the lever .8 3 drawn to the right. This, it will be readily seen, will pull the block 81 to the right and clamp both blocks tightly on the rope. The wearing surface of they said blocks maybe curved as shown in order to increase the frictional grip on the rope. Preferably the blocks are positioned togrip the rope Vas it returns to the drum.J This conditionis indicated by the arrow 92 in Fig. 8 showing the direction of travel of the rope. q*

The shaft 42 may be extended beyond i bracket 66, if desired, thereby forming an axle 100 for a wheel 101 (Figs. 1 and 5). Said wheel may be .placed on the axle 100 when it is desired to transport'the unit, the whole being adapted'to be Irolled along the ground on wheel 101 and ily wheel 43.

They parts may be s o deslgned that the will be broken at or about the time the cable brake becomes o erative. means may also snarling of the cable when the cable brake becomes operative. This means 'inayoassume the form illustrated in Figs. 5, 9 and 10 and constructed substantially as follows. Y

The drum 40 may be provided with a peripheral row of ratchet teeth 200 adapted to be engaged by a pawl or do 201'to prevent reverse rotation of the sai drum when the cable is gripped by its brake. The pawl 201 is shown pivoted in a bracket 202 secured to the base, on which the drum 40 is mounted, and biased to tooth-engagingAA position by means of a spring 203. It will be noted that when the drum 40 occupies a position to the left, (as viewed in Fig. 5) i. e., when the clutch 44 is in the operative position, the pawl 201e11ga s the smooth portion 204 \of said drum as s own in Fig. 10, so that little or no retardi-ng effect is exerted by said pawl. However, when the clutch' connection between thedrum 40V andwheel 43' is broken, as previously described, the drum moves to 200 are then in a position to be engaged by the pawl. Each of the teeth 200 is preferably beveled as indicated at 205 in Fig; 10 to" 201 into its-operative posi- If desirable, A vprovided to prevent lthe right (as viewed in F.ig. 5) and the teeth anism may be used where firing aerial torpedoes is as follows. The gunner upon being informed of the range and bearings ofthe target first observes the barometer and the speed and direction of the wind andby consulting a chart is able to make 'exact allowf ances for deflection 4and corrections of'the distance gear. The track is then properly'y turned to point in the required direction and the torpedo mounted on the car 6 and track 14 and locked. The fly wheel is then enerf gized, requiring 'several minutes, during which the adjustments of the various propelling and directing gear on the torpedo are made. When the shot is readytofire,

the cable 38 being made taut the catch 91 is released and clutch 44thrown-in simultaneousl by moving clutch handle 64.` lAt a re etermined Vpoint the clutch is released y trip 72 andthe shot released from the car by the engagementof lever 21 with Vtrack trip 20. As soon as this is' effected the powerful trackbrakes 28 landV 29 are antw' matically applied, the .strength ofjapplicamay be simultaneously applied to the cable if desired. The cable reel is thus slowed down and the entire cable kept taut by forces ltion being preferably governed by the rate .of retardation by means of the pivoted fweight 36. Also gripping blocks 80 and 81 consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the variousvfeatures and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted -without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use. .p

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent l. In a launching device for aeroplanes,

- the combination with a car, means for de- 1 tachably securing the aeroplane to the ear, a iy wheel, means for driving the.: same, .a normally stationary vcable coupled to said car, a lcable'drum and a clutch connecting said drum and ily wheel for accelerating the drum and car.

2. Ina launching device -ilor aeroplanes, a source`of power, a ily wheel, change speed gearing connecting said source with' said wheel, a normallystationary cable and cable drum adapted' to be detachablycoup'led to the aeroplane, and a clutch for connecting said wheel and drum.

3. In a` launching device for aeroplanes, the combination with a trackway and a car,

\ 'of means ,for detachably securing the aeroplane to .the car, a track brake on the car, and automatic means for applying said brake and` releasing the aeroplane atfa predetermined point'onthe trackway. .-4. Ina launching device `for aeroplanes, Y the combination with a trackway and a car, of means for detachably securing the aeroplane tothe'car, a brake onsaid car and means responsive to the .irate of deceleration of the car for `varying the force of application of the brake'.

adapted for launching aeroplanes of a track `brake on the car adapted to grip the tread of thetrack with a Vsnubbing post action, and

.means responsive to the rateo deceleration' 60 ofA the car'fonlessening thef braking eifect.

6. In a launching device Afor aeroplanes, the combination with apar, means for detachably securing the aeroplane'to the car, `a y wheel, means for driving thesaine, a

cable" and cable drum ofprogressively in- 5. lThe combination with a carJand track' creasing diameterand a clutch connecting' said drum and fly wheel for accelerating the car.

'2'.v In a launching car for aeroplanes, the lcombination with a clasp brake having a snubbing post action, of means responsive to the rate `of deceleration for governing the action of said brake. 8. In a launching device for aeroplanes, a source of power, aly wheel, chan speed gearing connecting said source w1th said wheel, a carfor'detachably supporting the 'i aeroplane, a cable drum of progressively increasing diameter ada ted to be coupledV to the car, and a clutch or connecting at will the wheel and drum.

.9. In a launching 'device for aeroplanes, a car adapted for translatory motion, power means .for accelerating the car, automatic means for disconnecting said means at a pre` determined point, a brake and automatic means or applying said brake at substantially the same point in the path of said car.

10. In a launching device for aeroplanes,

a car, means for detachably securing an aero` plane thereto, power means for accelerating the car, means for disconnecting said means at a predetermined point and means for releasing said aeroplane at substantially the same predetermined point in the path of travel of the car.

l1. In a launchin device for aeroplanes, .a car, a trackv clasprake thereon having a s'nubbing post action, means for accelerating the car, means for applying the brake and means responsive tothe rate of deceleration for governing the action of the brake. i 12. Ina launching device for-aeroplanes, the combination with the launching carriage, of a ily wheel, means for driving the same, a cable drum, a clutch connecting said drum and y wheel, acable adapted to connect the aeroplane and drum, means for throwing in said clutch, means for holding the cable taut prior to launching and means .operated by the throwing in bf said clutch for releasing said last named means.

'13;` In a launching device for aeroplanes, the combination with a car, means for detachably securing the aeroplane tothe car, a fl wheel, means Vfor driving-the same, a cab e and a cable drum Ahavin a clutch connection with the ily wheel, sai'drum having a concave conoidal lsurface such that a substantially imiform acceleration is imparted to the car.

14. In 'a launching device for aeroplanes,

-the combination with a car, a source of energy for accelerating the same,.a cable connecting saidv car and source,`a brake for the car, and avseparate brake for the cable; J

15. In a launching device for aeroplanes, the combination with a car, a. source of energy for accelerating the same, a cable, a cable drum detachably :connected to said source; a cable connecting said druin and cai", fand a clasp brake for the cable and drum adaptedfto l'gi'ipthe cable.;

combustion engine, a fly wheel, change s eed gearing connecting said engine.; an

W eel,

i `'a"cab1e.drum and a clutch connecting said i the. combination wit 'Hy wheel, means for drivi cable drum, a, clutch connecting said drum drum and wheel.

17.v In a launching1 device'forlaelv'o lanes',

a car', means or detachably securing the aeroplane to the car, a the same, a

4and fly wheel-'for'.accelerating the 4car,"a

cable connectin the car and drum, a stop for l holding the ycab e taut and Ineansfor throw; aunching devic'e foraeropla'nes, a sorce ofenergy-comprising an internal ing said clutch and releasing said stop.

18. In a laune i device -for aeroplanes, the combination with a car, a source 0f., en

ergy'f'or accelerating the same, a cable connecting said car and source, a brake for said -f car, a. separate brake' for vsaid cable and means for preventing snai-ling of said cable when said cable brake becomes operative.

' In' testimony whereof I have affixed my:

signature'. l

' ELMER A. SPERRY. 

